Kettle Of Fish
by Inuluvr
Summary: After Demyx's pet cat, Mr. Fuzzles, leaves him for Marluxia's catnip patch, Demyx decides to get a new kind of pet, and all havoc breaks loose when he introduces his new friend to the rest of the Organization members...
1. Betrayal of a Friend

Kettle of Fish

Demyx sat up on his bed, pulling his earbuds out of his ears. He looked lethargically around his room, trying to find something to help pass the hours he was stuck in the Headquarters. There was nothing to do in the World That Never Was, not since Xemnas banned Friday night karaoke after that nasty incident involving a little bit too much Paopu fruit juice and that "I'm too Sexy" song. Demyx smiled, remembering the horrified look on Xemnas's face when Marluxia tore off his overcoat and Laexus joined Marly in a strut on the catwalk. Ah, it had been so much fun while it lasted.

Demyx stood up and walked over to his bookcase, perusing each shelf in search for an interesting title. He continued to search until he found a book titled Underwater Creatures.  He pulled the book from the shelf and dusted off the cover, revealing a scenic picture of several types of fish, all shapes and sizes. The color in the picture was faded, and what used to be a brilliantly bright red fish, looked pale. That was another downside of the Headquarters, all color seemed to fade quickly. Except for Marly's room, which was always a very strong hot pink. And glittery. Marly never seemed to run out of sparkles to dust his room with.

Casting the book onto his bed for later amusement, he decided to see what the other members were up to. Perhaps Axel and Roxas were free for the day, in which case they could get themselves into mischief by harassing the others. Demyx started think of things they could do together. Perhaps today was a "harass Xigbar day", in which case they could try pulling his eye patch off again, or maybe today was the day to make Larxene's life a living hell, being so bold as to dump a pail of water over her head before watching as she was zapped with her own lighting.

Demyx was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost ran head on into Axel as he walked out of his room.

"Hey! Watch it!" Axel yelled as he evaded collision with Demyx. " Pay attention to where you're going, will ya?" Demyx looked up, embarrassed, " Sorry Axel, I guess I wasn't really paying attention, I was thinking-"

"Apology accepted, just pay attention next time." Then Axel changed tones, "Anyway, Roxas and I are going to go heartless hunting, you interested?" Demyx shook his head, and apologized, making up the excuse that he was too busy and didn't have time. Truth was though, that he felt bad killing the little things, even though it was thanks to them that he was stuck in this headquarters. He just thought that they were so cute, their big yellow eyes and adorable size. He had decided long ago that he would never go heartless hunting, at least not unless he absolutely had to. In fact, he actually once had consid- Axel interrupted his thoughts, " Well, Roxas and I are heading over to Twilight Town, commit it to memory." And without waiting for a response, Axel bid farewell and disappeared in a swirl of darkness, leaving Demyx alone in the hallway.

Demyx sighed, and decided to head into the kitchen and find Mr. Fuzzles, his cat.

Mr. Fuzzles had been given to him by Xemnas when his pet hamster had been eaten by Marly's Venus flytrap. He shivered when he remembered how he had found Mrs. Squeaks' blue bow in front of the Venus flytrap, and a large lump in the flytrap's mouth. It's punishment for eating his hamster was death, but Demyx still wouldn't forgive Marly for letting it eat Mrs. Squeaks. Xemnas had told him to deal with it and had promised him another pet, hopefully a more successful one. So far, Demyx had lost four different kinds of pets. His first had been a small bird, which had soon after met its fate when it ran into the glass window, attacking is own reflection. He had loved that bird dearly because it had kept him company and sang when he played his sitar. His second pet which had gotten as a gift from Axel was a chinchilla which had promptly run away, when he had tried to dress it up and teach it to play the sitar. Demyx sighed. He hadn't had that pet long, maybe an hour? His terrible luck with small pets had led Xemnas to believe that a larger animal, such as a kitten, would suit him. And thus, Mr. Fuzzles had came into being. He had decided not to tell Marluxia about him, for he was worried that Marluxia would end up luring him into his room, which meant certain death for any small animal that happened to walk into his garden of everything EVIL. Even children. He remembered the one time when nobody in the Headquarters could find Namine, only to discover her an hour after she had stumbled into Marluxia's poppy field, completely disoriented and dazedly wandering around. She'd been languidly lounging amidst the flowers, taking in deep breaths and then giggling inanely. Upon further inspection of her sketchbook, she'd occupied herself drawing psychedelic circles and lewd pictures of various organization members in varying states of undress. He didn't want to think about those pictures, but sometimes he wasn't quite quick enough to block the memory scalded into his brain when Axel and Roxas went off together for any length of time.

As Demyx walked into the kitchen, he saw Xigbar and Xaldin loudly discussing their newest assignments, and Luxord and Zexion sitting quietly staring at the cards they held in their hands. Demyx walked over to Luxord and Zexion first, interrupting their game.

"Have either of you seen Mr. Fuzzledeedumpkins?" he asked. Luxord's response was a mere grunt, which Demyx decided was a no, while Zexion looked up and paused for a moment to think then said,

" Marluxia's room." He then turned back to his cards and laid them onto the table.

"Royal flush," the cloaked schemer dead-toned. Luxord stood up and slammed his hand onto the table.

"ROYAL FLUSH?!? THERE'S NO WAY!" Zexion stood up without smiling and walked slowly out of the room, not even glancing back. Luxord started to clean up the cards, mumbling to himself, " He has to be cheating, there's no way…." He stalked out of the kitchen, muttering several curse words under his breath and going on about Zexion and his evil ploy to take his name as the "Gambler of Fate." Demyx smiled, knowing how touchy Luxord was when it came to his name.

Zexion was the only one who had ever been able to beat Luxord at a game of cards, and many of the organization members respected him for that. This made Luxord quite angry and everyday they would play a round of cards to see who would come out on top for that day. Even though Zexion had walked off without gloating, to Luxord that was his way of smearing his victory in his face. Demyx figured that he should avoid all contact with Luxord today, knowing that if he spoke a word, he would probably have his head bitten off.

Demyx turned his attention back to finding Mr. Fuzzles, and headed towards Marly's room. He despised going in there, for everything had flowers, and it was more of a garden than a bedroom. As Demyx walked through the hallways, he happened to glance at the time. He couldn't believe it! It was already three in the afternoon, which meant that Mr. Fuzzles was already half an hour late for his bath.

He hurried the rest of the way, now aware of the time. When he got to the room, he opened the door to find Marly sitting down on the ground planting some hideous hot pink flowers that went well with his light pink hair. Marluxia turned when he heard the door open, and smiled as he saw Demyx walk in.

Marly had some exciting news to tell Demyx, and couldn't wait to announce it, so when Demyx walked in the door, he blurted out that he had found a small kitten and was planning on keeping him. But when Demyx responded by claiming the kitten as his own, Marluxia became quite angry.

" Just because you can't keep a pet alive doesn't mean you should go around stealing others' pets!" Marluxia glared at Demyx as he continued to argue that it was his cat and that his name was Mr. Fuzzledeedumpkins.

"No! You're wrong! His name is Iris, and he's mine because I found him first!"

By this time, the ruckus had aroused the kitten from a deep sleep in a plant of catnip, and he gingerly stepped out of his hiding place. He blinked, confused about what was going on. Demyx pointed, and shouted,

"There! That's Mr. Fuzzles!"

"No I'm telling you! This is Iris!" Demyx and Marluxia stood facing each other, weapons out. By this time, they had quite an audience, Larxene snickered watching them fight, while Vexen and Saix scowled at their confrontation. Demyx and Marluxia lunged at each other and a loud metal clang followed afterward. The other members watched in silence as Xemnas threw off the water clone on his one side and the scythe on the other. The scythe hit the ground with another metal clang while the water clone burst, soaking the flower bed Marluxia had been working on just moments before.

"What is the problem here?" He cast a cold glance at both Demyx and Marluxia, waiting for one of them to respond. Demyx pointed and started to wail.

"He took Mr. Fuzzles away from meee!!!" Xemnas seemed to be taken aback by Demyx's sudden reaction, and he stood for several moments, not knowing what to do. Finally, he turned to the small group of Organization members who were snickering at Demyx's abrupt outburst.

"I'm sure you all have something better to be doing." They slunk off, going their separate ways by disappearing into darkness. Xemnas sighed, and turned back to eleven and eight, who were now sticking their tongues out at each other. Figures, he thought, that the two most immature members would be fighting over something as stupid as a little kitten.

"Now I suggest that you both let this little kitten decide for himself who he wants to stay with. I expect this conflict to be ended and forgotten by the time I see you two again." With one final indignant look, Xemnas left the room, disappearing into a thick cloud of black smoke.

Demyx glared at Marluxia and then turned to Mr. Fuzzles, smiling and sweetly calling his name. The kitten looked at Demyx with a dazed, catnip high stare and then stuck his nose deeper into the patch of kitty drugs. Marluxia smiled,

"See, I told you, he's mine, and his name is Iris." Demyx sadly walked out of Marly's room, not looking back at the kitten who watched him walk out the door.

Demyx slowly walked down the corridors of his room, thinking about how angry he was not only at Marluxia but also at Mr. Fuzzles. Demyx decided he would get a better pet, one that would be more loyal, and have the same likes as he did, since it was obvious that Mr. Fuzzles didn't enjoy his bath time. Then a smirk spread across his face as he came up with a brilliant plan, the perfect pet for him.

"Next stop Atlantica." He said to no one in particular.


	2. A New companion

Chapter 2

A New Companion

Demyx sighed and sat down, pondering his failure so far in finding a new partner to replace Mr. Fuzzledeedumpkins. Demyx had considered several species that had been labeled as friendly fish in his book, but so far, he had come across nothing but mean fish that had bitten him. Their unpleasant personalities reminded Demyx of Larxene during that certain time of the month when she was most irritable. He recalled one specific time that she had actually been able to send Xemnas to a corner whimpering in fear of the species they referred to as female. The memory lifted Demyx's spirits and gave him new hope that he would find the perfect pet. He scanned the large coral reef in front of him. Surely there was a fish out here in the huge sea that would be willing to be his friend, right?

He swam over to an auspicious hunk of coral and watched as a school of small fish frantically tried to get away. Demyx decided not to go after them, since he would then have to take more than one home with him, and he still technically hadn't been granted permission to keep one by Xemnas. He could only imagine the superior's expression if he found out about his plan, Knowing that whatever he got he would have to hide from number one who had eyes like a hawk, which would be difficult.

Demyx looked up at the sky through the clear surface of the water, and estimated that it was almost twilight. He knew that he should head back soon, but he desperately wanted a friend that he could call his own. A pet that would not leave him for Marluxia, or rather perish in his garden of death.

A sudden squeak came from behind Demyx and he turned around, wondering what was still within ten feet of him. He looked around, but found nothing, so he decided to head back to his gummi ship. He began thinking of an excuse for being away from the headquarters for so long, since he was positive that Axel would tease him about doing one dirty thing or another in the world where all the dancer nobodies were.

A flurry of bubbles made Demyx whip around, but again, nothing was visible. He decided that he would sit down and see if he could coax his follower out with a little music. He began to sing, and just as he had expected, a small fish reluctantly swam out of a seaweed clump. Demyx gazed in awe, for the second that he laid eyes on it, he knew that this was the fish meant for him. The fish was about three inches long, with a bright electric blue tail and fins. His stomach was a lime green, and his back was a hot pink with brilliant orange stripes. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life (or unlife.)

The fish made an adorable squeaking noise, followed by a sound that seemed like the purr of a kitten. He cautiously approached it and crooned to it, " Joo are the most bootiful wittle fishie I've ever laid eyes on!" waggling his finger all the while. Suddenly, the fish swam forward and chomped down hard on his finger. Demyx, slightly taken aback, pulled the bloodsucking fish off his abused digit and flung it off into the open water. It then began swimming around in circles, smelling the blood it had drawn from his finger. That's when an unsuspecting fish swam by, much smaller than the first, and passed the bloodthirsty fish. With a quick snap of it's jaws, however the little fish was no more, and Demyx realized why it had bitten him.

"You were just hungry!" he said, convinced that this was the fish he would take home with him. He gleefully captured it in a jar and headed back to the gummi ship, periodically stopping to grab another fishy meal for his new pet.

On the way back to the headquarters, he decided a name for the fish, Mr. Bubbles. His full name would be Mr. Bobubbledeedumpkins, but he knew that would be too difficult, and so Mr. Bubbles it was. He had even made up a song for his new pet, but he hadn't been able to think of anything that rhymed with "Atlantica," so he hummed a few measures under his breath. He had just gotten to the chorus when he was distracted by a loud splish. Demyx took his eyes off the road for a minute, investigating the noise, but found nothing but Mr. Bubbles, a toothy grin wide across his face. He returned the smile and said in a cheery voice,

"Dance, Mr. Bubbles, dance!" These mere seconds in which he was not looking at the road, Demyx ran into a large asteroid with a loud THUMP!

Demyx was never the best gummi ship navigator, but he had never driven so badly before in his life. By the time he neared the headquarters, the ship was unrecognizable; the once brilliant blues, reds, and yellows had been scraped down to the bare metal frame. But Demyx just couldn't help looking away from the road, Mr. Bubbles was too cute and needed constant attention. However, he would need a good excuse for destroying this gummi ship, and he started to formulate a story.

He decided that he would tell Xemnas that he had run into a giant heartless ship that was much more powerful than any prior to his excursion, adding in that he was lucky that he was still alive after such a near-death experience. Xemnas probably wouldn't believe him, but there was nothing Demyx could do about it, and in time, number one would forgive him… after much bribing and many tubes of the very expensive hair gel. Demyx knew how hard Xemnas worked to keep his hair so perfect, because when he woke up in the morning, his hair was a terrible mess. Demyx snickered as he recalled one time in which Xemnas had run out of hair gel, and all the other members had locked themselves away in their rooms, stricken with fear of the monster that was roaming around the corridors, moaning. They later found out, a little too late, that this monster was the superior, and that he would not melt if you dumped a cold bucket of water on his head. That night at dinner everyone had been quite quiet; no one dared to speak to the fuming leader.

The thought of food made Demyx's stomach growl, and he realized that he hadn't had anything to eat since earlier that morning. He already knew that nothing edible was left at the headquarters, since Axel seemed to have burned every morsel of food in the castle, and Roxas always considered Sea salt ice cream the balanced part of every meal. Demyx considered bringing back some food from the supermarket, which would give him a reason to be late, so he decided to visit the most easily accessed supermarket, which was located in Traverse Town.

Demyx's original plan was just to get some food, but after seeing all the shops, he stayed a little longer than expected. However, he had not stayed to buy frivolities, he had gone to a small pet shop and bought a fish set, which included a large can of fish food, a tank with a small treasure chest bubbler, and a pump to help keep the tank sparkly clean. The man at the store had said, "Only 1000 munny!" but now that Demyx looked in his pocket, he realized with dread that 1000 munny was a lot more than the man had made it seem.

He sighed, walking out of the small shop, hands full and wallet empty. He was now sure that Xemnas was going to kill him, since there was probably nothing worse he could do than bring in a strange pet and announce that he had spent all his money on it. However, as soon as Demyx returned to the ship and looked at the smiling face of Mr. Bubbles, all his worries were gone.

The headquarters were quiet when Demyx returned, and he was able to slip into his room without waking anyone. He had been surprised when he had found that Roxas and Axel's gummi ship was still gone, meaning they had not come back from heartless hunting.

Demyx walked over to his bookcase and pushed dusty books off the shelves, clearing a spot for Mr. Bubbles's tank. Once he had enough room, he heaved the heavy container onto the shelves and proceeded with setting up the bubbler and pump. When that was done, he put gravel in and began to decorate the tank with pretty water plants that had been included in the fish deal. Demyx summoned a water clone, only to dismiss it, letting the water fall into Mr. Bubbles's new home. He stepped back and smiled at the newly made home, happy that it was working out well so far.

Demyx placed Mr. Bubbles into his new home, and watched as his pet swam around exploring all the parts of the tank. Mr. Bubbles seemed to like the new place and settled down soon afterwards. Demyx turned to the books sprawled across his floor and knew that he would need to clean them up. He picked up as many as he could and walked over to his bed, hoping there would be enough room to shove them under. He lifted up the sheets that draped over the side of the bed, only to find that there was no space. Demyx stuffed many toys under the bed in fear that another member would find them and tease him nonstop, which had happened one too many times when he had hidden them in his closet. Demyx stood up, letting the books drop on the floor again, turned to the door, and paled. For standing in the door was Axel, a wide, taunting smile slapped across his face.

"Well, lookie here. Seems you've found some sunken treasure on you dive down to Atlantica."

From there on out, Demyx knew he was in a lot of trouble.


End file.
